Unless the person is falling-down drunk, heavily drugged, or in an insane rage–in which case I would simply hang up–the best way to deal with an obscene caller is:
Speak slightly away from the handset, and say something like:
"Lt. Sloan, I think it’s HIM again.
When I did this the obscene caller hung up!!
Great Idea. When we were being bugged with annoying calls. I had a friend with the right voice record a short thing on my answering machine message box. With some clicks and taps she said in a spaced out monotone " Phone trace com plete " calls stopped after three times.
How many obscene calls do you get? I do not believe I have ever gotten any. Plenty of wrong numbers or hang-ups but no obscene calls.
Jeffery
I don’t get many!! I am big and burly with a voice to match! Besides we are a telephone-company family and even we kids have picked up, by osmosis, a considerable amount of telephone lore and ‘tricks of the trade.’
If you’ll post your phone numbers, major credit card and mother’s maiden name, I’ll be happy to oblige you for a small fee.
I am glad to know that you are big and burly with a voice to match. You are such a manly man. I was not trying to imply anything about you receiving obscene calls, I was just wondering how many you receive as I do not recall ever receiving any.
Jeffery
Want to get hard-core? Get some tech.
Call up Ma Bell or Ma Sprint or Ma MCI or whatever you got and demand caller ID. Wait for Captain Stupid to bug you. There, on a nifty little readout, is the caller’s phone number.
Now you have 2 options:
1)Never answer for that number again. Even dimwits get bored after a while, and you should lose your troublemaker.
2)Phone up the fuzz and file a complaint about illegal phone calls.
Hope this helps. Does cost some money, but you cain’t get chicken noodle soup without killin’ a chicken and usin’ yer noodle.
don Jaime
Free the Water Tower 3!
Caller Id is great. It isn’t very expensive. But a caller can punch in a code 6 something * and your read out will say “anonymous” which of course you don’t answer. But that is not much comfort when you are getting calls at 3 am, which we were.Also caller Id is not available in all areas. Not so important for us who have it but a call from those areas will read out ‘not available’ or ‘out of area’ and it just might be aunt hilda . Guess where a lot of telemarketers have their calls routed thru? More importantly, the phone company USED to put a trace/recorder on your line if you requested.If you got an obnoxious call you noted the time and called ma bell and they would notify the cops. NOW if you call, they tell you how to block calls from a specified number for a ‘slight additional fee’. Unfortunatly they can’t block anonymous calls. So you gotta call the cops and file a complaint, telling them what number you are receiving the call from and they will contact the phone company.!!! Answering machine works good , let it screen your calls. And when we did pop a guy for calling us we had the phone co. records and our recordings.
First off, Shane, most people don’t do obscene phone calls to males. Some do, but it’s pretty rare. Most will hang up if a guy answers the phone.
Now for the answer:
I think the code is *57 in most areas, contact your local police department for details, but you dial that and then somehow if you get 3 calls from the same number (and it doesn’t matter if they’re blocking it) a report is sent to the local police dept. of the originating call.
>^,^<
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*67 Caller I.D. block
*69 Call back last caller
I’ve had one obscene phone call in my whole life (I’m old) – guy calls (I’m at work) and says (can I say this on the board?) “Do you suck c***?” Flabbergasted, I respond “What?” He must have used up all his courage, cuz he just sputtered and hung up. Got a chuckle recalling that – thanks!
Now flashers, they really tick me off!
<insert something clever>
This used to be a hassle for me, too. I bought a REALLY loud whistle. When that little perv called me back, I let him have it. I bet his ear fell off. Never called back.
I’m sorry; to answer your question, I have had VERY few obscene calls in the last 30 years. Maybe people sense from my voice that I could come over and do something to them. It never gets that far, but, hey, whatev er works…
My daughter was getting them. We dialed *57. That traced the call for the phone company. Then we called the police. They came over and filled out a report. The detective got the traced number from the phone company and payed the caller a visit. The calls stopped. The phone company and the cops would not tell us who the caller was, but they did tell the caller that if he ever did it again, he would have his phone disconnected for a year, on top of being arrested.
“Do you suck c***?”
My answer would have been, no, I prefer my chicken sliced and diced. 
Obscene phone calls from random “pranksters” are the least of people’s worries these days. The real headache is when some obsessive stalker decides to phone you day and night for months.
Now that’s a good reply, Shirley. Better you should defuse a potentially volatile situation than allow it to detonate.
The last time I was bothered by an obscene repeat caller was before caller-id was available. Nothing since. I have caller-id, and I’m undecided whether I consider it something of a ripoff or not. As someone pointed out, you can hit *## (whatever) to block display of your number on a receiving unit; however,the phone company (at least my local one does) should also offer (no fee) ‘anonymous call reject’ which will not allow such blocked calls to ring through. It should even work cross-country, because when my brother calls from Seattle, it displays his number and name. However, as someone else also noted, most solicitors route their calls in such a way that “out of area” is displayed (which of course the phone company didn’t tell you about when they advertised caller-id everywhere); however, although I know there have been some cases of long-distance obscene callers, most are local, and should show up.
However, my girlfriend informs me that, if you’re receiving obscene phone calls, you can call the operator even in the middle of the night and they can activate the call-trace option for your line within minutes.
If you just hate solicitors, though, you can try some other options: some answering machines have a feature which requires the caller to enter a three digit code after the regular number, or the machine will not pass the call onto the phone. This is called a ‘breakthrough code’. For about $15-$20, several mail order catalog places offer a device you can clip into your phone line which will detect any unidentifiable number and keep it from ringing through; in addition, it plays a digital message telling the caller to remove your number from their call list.
After playing that message to remove you from there call list, it also makes it illegal for them (or just about all soliciters, because they are mostly based off the same list) within the next three years.
Formerly known as Nec3f on the AOL SDMB
I used to be a security guard, working a graveyard shift. One time another guard (from another building in the same agency!) called me and spouted off obscenities at me for five minutes!! I bet the guy was on something. I didn’t waste time. I contacted the dispatcher, who had the supervisor called me. They must have fired that garbage-mouth immediately!!